From Cork and Burton to Rochdale .. and now Harry Kane (PLEASE!)

TRUTH is stranger than pulpit fiction at the club where the chairman’s other business is installing central heating in churches and cathedrals.

When he is not calling the shots in Rochdale’s boardroom, Chris Dunphy’s altar ego owns an engineering firm which specialises in radiators and hot water pipes for places of worship.

Nobody gives Dale a prayer of reaching the FA Cup quarterfinals at Tottenham’s expense, but Spurs stumbled into a booby-trap in south Wales in the last round and came within eight minutes of an ignominious shock at Newport. Pew, that was close.

At least Tottenham won’t have to worry about the pitch, which resembled low tide at an estuarine beach when Keith Hill’s side knocked out Millwall 11 days ago.

Head coach Mauricio Pochettino squealed at the

prospect of risking his stars on another sandpit, but Dunphy sanctioned a £500,000 spend – the entire profits of Rochdale’s Cup run – on relaying the playing area.

So when 32-goal Harry Kane comes calling tomorrow, Spurs won’t have to fight them on the beaches.

And for Rochdale defender Ryan Delaney, the tie will complete a whirlwind couple of months in which he won the Double on loan in Ireland, was released by Burton Albion – without kicking a ball for them – and now could be marking the most coveted striker in world football.

Hill’s players trained on their freshly-laid bowling green yesterday, and Delaney warned Spurs the pristine surface won’t make them easier to beat. “Tottenham might like it, but it will help us to play good football, too,” said 21-year-old centre-back Delaney, who has banked more winner’s medals in his career than Kane after winning the league and cup with Cork City in 2017.

“Our manager likes his teams to get the ball down and play.

“The pitch has been relaid and it’s in fantastic condition, but we are not rolling out a welcome mat just for Tottenham. It’s going to help us as much as them.” Rochdale may be bottom of League One, 11 points adrift of safety, but if Spurs stroll complacently into Spotland – known as the Crown Oil Arena these days by the naming rights police – they will get a rude awakening.

Spotland the brave? Delaney says the tie will bring out the best in Hill’s 750-1 rank outsiders. “It’s not going to be a picnic,” he said.

“These are the games you want to play in, to measure yourself against players from the highest level. Whoever Tottenham put out against us, they have fantastic attacking options and they will try to press us high up the pitch.

“If Harry Kane plays, we’ll relish the test – and for me it will be another high point because I’ve had an unusual couple of months.

“I spent last year on loan at Cork, where we won the League of Ireland and FAI Cup double, went back to Burton Albion, where it soon became apparent that I wasn’t going to get regular gametime, and within a couple of weeks I had signed for Rochdale.

“I made my debut at Millwall in the last round of the FA Cup, and there aren’t many better places than the Den to shape up and get your feet under the table.

“We managed to bring them back to our place and win the replay.

“And don’t worry, our fans will generate a great atmosphere. It won’t lack anything for noise.” From Johnny Giles to Roy Keane, from Paul McGrath to Liam Brady, the Emerald Isle has been a rich source of rough diamonds for English clubs to mine, and Delaney says the conveyor belt is still churning out bags of potential at bargain fees.

“There are still a lot of decent young players in the Irish league who tend to get a chance of regular first-team football earlier than at some clubs in England,” he said.

“I made my debut for Wexford at 17 and, by the time I was 21, I was playing 30-odd games in a season for Cork in a highlycompetitive league where a lot of teams have similar budgets and it’s a level playing field.”

Level playing field? That brings us back to Rochdale’s new pitch, and the largesse of a chairman who keeps congregations warm at evensong with his bespoke central heating systems.

If Tottenham play as we know they can, Delaney accepts they will take some stopping.

But if Kane doesn’t fancy it, or Spurs are off the pace, it will be goodnight from hymn.

Tottenham have fantastic attacking options and if Harry Kane does play we will relish the test